In 2008, I completed a PhD in European Studies at the University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall & Centre of International Studies). Here is the abstract to my dissertation (the whole text is available on request), followed by an academic CV summarising my publications and my involvement with Sport&EU.

PhD abstract

Identity, Sport & the Press in Europe after the Bosman Ruling (1995)

The thesis investigates the claim frequently made by journalists, football governing bodies, and even politicians, that the growing number of foreign players in football clubs (a consequence of the 1995 Bosman ruling of the ECJ) hinders support to the clubs. The thesis therefore analyses whether the means through which football supporters’ identify with their club have been affected by the inclusion of players deemed ‘foreign’. Three cases are studied: Glasgow (Celtic and Rangers); Paris Saint-Germain; Arsenal (London). The press provides the major focus for the research. Its study was triangulated with interviews and written material produced by the supporters themselves.
The study shows that the ‘foreign invasion’ of football clubs has not alienated supporters from their sport as, for the most dedicated supporters, club football represents a local identity rather than a national one. A ‘national’ player not originally from the club’s area (such as an Essex boy in Highbury), is thus not considered so strongly to be ‘one of us’ by those supporters as a foreign player can be if he represents one of the minorities in the club’s neighbourhood (as in the North African population of Paris).
From a theoretical perspective, the thesis confirms the view that supporters still identify through means such as team composition, but also the personality of the players, the style of play and emblems (the colours, the jersey or logo of the club) as acknowledged in the works of Bromberger, Sonntag or Mignon. But additionally, this thesis shows that these factors can adapt to changing contexts, that they can take on new meanings or that an (obsolete) means of identification can be replaced by another, be it an old one which becomes more important or a newly constructed one. The thesis suggests that new factors that maintain or bring supporters to the club need therefore to be considered. These, aside from players, include figures who embody continuity such as managers, presidents or former stars returning to take up administrative or coaching positions. Supporters themselves, especially those organised in groups, provide another means of attracting new supporters and strengthening their identification with the club, support, i.e., is partly self-perpetuating. The names such groups of supporters give themselves, give to others or receive from the press are also important in terms of carrying an identity and prompting identification.
As the prime medium through which collective identities are produced, the press has revealed the salience of different issues surrounding football and identity in the three countries: sectarianism in Glasgow; a hidden xenophobia in England; and an anti-Parisian feeling in France. Nevertheless, the press plays a rather limited role in actually prompting or discouraging identification: newspapers are reviled by supporters of clubs that are negatively portrayed; for the most part, they reinforce existing identification in the case of clubs on which they report favourably.
Conversely, symbols interact in complex ways: they express positively the identity of the club supported, or negatively the identity of rival clubs (for example, Celtic’s style is often deemed to be ‘foreign’ in Scotland). They are factors of identification, but also of exclusion. More importantly, the thesis shows an important aspect of symbols, hitherto unstudied, that they change roles over time and in varying contexts, passively expressing the identity of the club, or actively encouraging identification.

Under press

Conference organisation

* 2008: Co-organiser (with Dr Hugh Dauncey) of the 16th conference of the French Media Research Group at the University of Newcastle on 'Sport and Media in France’

* 2006: Co-organiser (with Borja Garcìa & An Veermersch) of the first workshop of Sport&EU at the University of Loughborough on ‘Sport and the European Union 10 years after Bosman: situation and perspectives’

Academic and teaching experience

* 2005: Co-founder of Sport&EU, association promoting the study of European sports policies and which has managed to attract in excess of 140 members (academics and practitioners), organised three conferences, published five newsletters and developed parternships with the International Sports Law Journal and Asser International Sports Law Centre

* 2002-2007: French tuition for native French and English speakers (Paris, Cambridge, Brussels)

* 2000-2001: Supervisions in French, University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall)

David Ranc has written a doctoral dissertation on 'Identity, Sport and the Press in Europe after the Bosman ruling (1995)' at the University of Cambridge (Trinity Hall and Centre of International Studies). He has also published articles and book chapters on the subject.